1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to managing information in a system of collaborative planning.
2. Related Art
Storing accurate information and responding rapidly to user requests for that information poses many problems in systems for supply chain management. These problems are compounded when (1) the entities in a supply chain are relatively far from the data, and (2) the data is stored in multiple places.
A first problem with information systems used in supply chain management is that inconsistencies in the data arise when multiple parties in a supply chain have write access to a database or when a master database is synchronized from smaller databases that are local to a customer. Under these circumstances, it is not possible for a party to receive accurate information about a transaction when at any one time the data about the transaction can be altered by one or more other parties.
A second problem involves the usability of the supply chain management system. Usability problems arise when data is stored large distances (measured in terms of network distance or geographic distance) from the parties who use the data. Even with high-speed networks, excessively long download and upload times create difficulties in receiving and sending information or successfully completing a transaction. One solution to usability problems involves distributing the information to locations that are closer to the user. However, this solution remains imperfect when the distributed information must be synchronized with one or more other databases associated with the supply chain management system or when the delay is attributable to processing the information.
Lastly, problems arise when one or more of the servers or databases in a distributed system for supply chain management becomes unavailable. Under these circumstances, problems arise because a user cannot access the most recent version of data that is stored at the local database.